Mary Ruth McLeay

I grew up the youngest of seven in Omaha, Nebraska. I don’t think there’s a time I can remember when music wasn’t a focal point in my life. I don’t come from a musical family, but my draw to it was just the same. When I was 2, I came home from the movie “Elf” knowing every word to “Santa Clause Is Coming to Town”. I lived in the Hannah Montana generation and invited all of my siblings and their friends to my karaoke concerts. Handmade tickets, lined audience chairs, costume changes, throwing my scarf into the crowd, the whole thing. When I was 12, my voice teacher taught me chords on the piano and everything changed. My world became songwriting as I wrote my first full song “He’ll Lie”. There was no other way for me to communicate from that point forward. To this day I start feeling stuck and nervous when I haven’t written for awhile. Within that time I discovered my dad’s guitar he had never used. Google and YouTube became good friends of mine as I taught myself how to tune and play. “Drops of Jupiter” came from the basement over and over again for two days with a ribbon used as a strap. After two years and developing the use of a portable instrument, I started wanting to share my music. This is when I discovered the open mic scene in Omaha. I was dragging my parents to gigs and doing research on local music. I entered a songwriting competition and got in the top ten showcase! I met musicians who invited me to play in their festivals and bars. Freshman year of high school I learned that music and songwriting would always have my back, even when high school didn’t seem like my cup of tea. Transferring schools sophomore year, music understood what it was like to be “the new girl”. Now, at 16, I’m playing all around and have penned 145 songs on my own. I’ve been learning to expand my social media and make connections with people with interest in my music. Producing music is also a new addiction of mine. The midi keyboard entered my life, with drums and violins, and now I can make my songs sound closer to how they sound in my head! I’m always trying to evolve and move forward. I want every performance opportunity I can get!